Bunker boats off our beaches

The appearance of bunker boats harvesting menhaden off New Jersey’s beaches has some anglers wondering if they have anything to do with the slow down in the bass fishing.

It’s probably just a coincidence as the bass fishing does slow down a bit before the next big wave of stripers arrive in June.

However, these boats are a cause of concern to those who want to protect New Jersey’s stock of mossbunker. These boats are taking bunker for bait as opposed to the reduction boats that worked off the coast in the 1990s.The RFA is heading to Trenton on Thursday for a hearing on S1140 which would create limited entry provisions for commercial owners looking to harvest menhaden for sale as bait, and would also limit the size and power of boats participating in the bunker harvest for bait.
We’ll keep you posted on the outcome

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About John Oswald

John Oswald is the editor of Hook, Line and Sinker and has been at the Asbury Park Press for 13 years. He was born and raised in Monmouth County and has been fishing its waters, with the exception of a stint on the west coast, his entire life. He's a salt water fisherman, doing most angling from the beach, but will jump at any chance to go fishing anywhere at anytime.

3 Responses to Bunker boats off our beaches

I would like to attempt to dispel a rumour and common misconception that has been circulating since the out-of-state bunker boats came to town this year: that somehow these boats, that have been netting bunker for many years, are somehow responsible for the recent bass-fishing “lull.” Let’s be real; recreational anglers take more adult-class, egg-carrying female bass in a day than any bunker boat could ever fathom as a day’s by-catch. A few dozen bass that were left in the water by the bunker boats that devastated anglers and caused such a fuss in the media pale in comparison to the hundreds of these fish killed by recreational anglers for club points and tackle shop pictures.
How can I blame the recreational angler? How can just a few fishermen be responsible for the sudden halt in striped bass activity when these bunker boats are right off our shares throwing dead bass into the water? The answer is simple: the bunker boats aren’t doing anything different than they have been doing for years. Every June, the New England bunker boats come and fish their LEGAL .5 miles off the beach and harvest hundreds of thousands of pounds of bunker. Sure this may sound like a lot, but all of these boats combined in a week don’t net what one of Omega Protein Company’s reduction boats (who fish their legal three miles off the beach) net in a day. Yes, bunker are being overfished, but now, so are the bass; and it isn’t the bunker boats’ fault; they aren’t doing anything different. The only amount of fishing that is increasing is that of the recreational anglers and here is how:
A few years ago, some anglers discovered that bass ate bunker. In fact, I would argue that at least 50% of all bass “anglers” now weren’t privy to that fact before 2003. All of a sudden, people who hadn’t ever caught a striped bass in their lives realized that all they had to do was find a school of bunker, snag, and drop, and they could catch a 40lb bass. For the past 5 or 6 years, you could go into any tackle shop during the months of May and June and see hundreds upon hundreds of guys who probably never even fished for striped bass before weighing in trophy egg-filled female fish. Hundreds of boats would go out daily with four or five guys on each boat catching and keeping their limits of trophy fish. Multiply the number of fish per boat by the number of boats each day by the number of days in May and June, and you’ll soon discover exactly where the striped bass went.
Still don’t believe recreational anglers put commercial bycatch to shame? Look at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Between 2002 and 2004, you couldn’t catch a fish under 30lbs if you tried, and gillnetting for bass was, is, and will continue to be perfectly legal down there. But again, word spread, recreational anglers flooded the outer banks, charter boats would run two trips per day and come back with their limits each trip, until the fishery died. I haven’t caught a bass there in 2 years.
Anglers, blame the commercial fishermen for the loss of fluke, weakfish, and bluefish. Draggers and gillnetters have nearly decimated all three of these fisheries; there is little debate there, even among commercial fishermen. But the decrease in striped bass catches is almost solely the fault of striped bass fishermen. Gentlemen, stop keeping trophy egg-filled bass if you want a fishery. If you’re concerned about bunker, don’t go after the toy operation right in front of you netting 2 million a week combined; go after the real culprit, Omega Protein, who nets 11million per day. New Jersey fishing is well on its way to becoming a thing of the past if regulations are not put into place that attack the actual problems, not the misconceptions created by hype.
Do you want more proof? Here’s some homework: Go to Fred’s Bait and Tackle, Julian’s, Jims, Surfside, Fisherman’s Den, Reel Seat, Alex’s, Reel Life, Grumpy’s, Murphy’s, Betty and Nick’s, Fisherman’s Headquarters, Surf City, Oceanside, Jingles and Scott’s, and count the pictures of egg filled striped bass over 30lbs (all of which are dead now) and figure out an average of how many fish were caught and killed per day. Then, follow around one of the bunker boats for a month, and see how many bass they throw over the side of the boat. I guarantee more fish died at the end of a snag rig than in a purse seine.

Hey There John Oswald,
Interesting Post, Well i was in social studies and this kid was saying during WW2 D-day that the germans in the bunkers on the beach wearnt supposed to shoot they had orders from the Captain or something to hold fire but he died of drug overdose :/ lol but i was wondering if that was true but i thought as soon as the Troops got off the boats that the germans were supposed to open fire and kill all of them please tell me whats true
All the Best

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News and photos of what's biting and where in New Jersey

About the Author

John OswaldJohn Oswald is the editor of Hook, Line and Sinker and has been at the Asbury Park Press for 13 years. He was born and raised in Monmouth County and has been fishing its waters, with the exception of a stint on the west coast, his entire life. He's a salt water fisherman, doing most angling from the beach, but will jump at any chance to go fishing anywhere at anytime.E-mail John